Friday, October 26, 2007

Can't Scare Me! A Very Brave Witch by Alison McGhee

A young and properly green witch, who has never experienced the joys of Halloween on her own, does her research from the Big Book of Humans, (Humans are afraid to fly, don't like pointy hats, are rarely known to cackle, and are definitely not green) and decides to find out first hand about this whole human Halloween thing.

The first thing the little witch observes is a curious human custom which sounds something like "Trick a tree." "No one can trick a tree like me!" she boasts, and circles and swoops around a likely tree in a manner which would certainly trick any tree if a tree could be tricked. This maneuver leads to an unfortunate crash landing in the middle of three costumed trick-or-treaters, a witch, a ghost, and a skeleton.

When the kid-witch approaches with a sympathetic "That was quite a spill," the young witch thinks, "Yikes. A real human! I'm being touched by a human hand!" The kid-witch adds wistfully that she has always dreamed of flying. "Have I got a treat for you," responds the little witch, and she invites the girl-witch aboard for a flying tour around the witchy mansion aboard her trusty broom.

The cheery Halloween scene, with its dark and gloomy witches' mansion, bats, ghosts, and a bright orange-striped cat waving from the little witch's broom, helps young readers see the fun of Halloween from the other side in Harry Bliss's sweet and charming illustrations for A Very Brave Witch.

4 Comments:

Of the two McGhee books we read last night, this is definitely the one for younger kids. Very friendly and non-scary. The book is about a little witch who sets out to prove that she isn't afraid of people, even though they aren't green. I definitely recommend it!

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Retired after 32+ years as an elementary librarian, I really miss the joy of bringing together the right book with the right reader at the right time. Loving both kids and books equally as I do, perhaps helping children and the adults who care about them find good books through this blog is the next best thing to being there.
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